Need advice on a lifted splinter

[Eric Krewson]

More on patching, if the splinter wasn't on the edge I probably wouldn't fool with a patch wrap.

The wrapped bamboo backed bow is a case in point. It was an osage bow that developed strage cracks on the back.



I didn't trust this kind of damage to hold up with a wrap so I ground the back flat and bamboo backed it. Back then I was a little too agressive on my bamboo rind removal, I probably left a cut that raised a giant splinter on the bamboo.

I used the same technique, pull the bow, fill the splintered crack with super glue, relax the bow and give it a wrap. Works for me.

Why would I try  to save such a bow? Before it was a bamboo backed bow I killed the biggest whitetail I had killed by any means, off the ground, on a public hunting area with it.

[BowEd]

To be clear here I've fixed plenty of bows myself too with splinters or cracks.Even horn bows and won a trophy or two with fixed bows,and they are still shooting too.Killing many deer.Got plenty of pictures if wanted.
Many ways to skin a cat here and take it as an accomplishment getting it to work.
Noone ever told this poster to throw it in the stove.

[HH~]

Thats a backed selfbow. IBO dont allow backed bows in selfbow class. I remember that IBO in 2013. That was the end of Backed selfbows competing against a selfbow!

Just like you cant have a selfbow where the string touches belly of bow. I shot against 
 a lady with a selfbow that was a recurve really in the shootdown at IBO in 2019. Was like a warm up for me. Knew i couldnt go out cuz the bow was not legal anyway.

I have one that i have won more $ , wood and metal with that i cant remember. Got at least 200,000 shots thru it. As with all SBs that get shot that much it started to splinter a bit on upper limb. Been wrapped a long time now. Zero set, zero string follow, zero weight loss. 69” pryamid with flipped tips.

Hedge

[Stickhead]

That limb looks it gave up the ghost. Scrape out make a 18lb kids bow or harvest the riser out of bow. Suks but it happens all the time.

What draw length did it do the noise making?

HH

Hedge -
It’s currently a stout bow, which I wanted.  It ticked at 24 or 25”, pulling mid-70’s.

[RandyN]

Lots of good ideas listed above. I'm with Eric that I just can't give up on a bow. My elk hunting bow is 62lbs @ 28" and it developed a splinter. Looked a lot like yours. I did a sinew wrap of the area as Eric described. The bow hasn't lost an ounce of weight and the limbs are still straight. It has had some hard years hunting and stump shooting. Stirng it before first light and un-string after dark. It's been through rain, snow and dry heat. I live in the Southwest.
Good Luck with what ever you decide to do with it.

[HH~]

Well in that case you have plenrty in her to scrape , wrap and still get a fine whitetail killing bow without much issue?

Which limb was it. I find with once you have many shots out a selfbow its usually the upper limb that starts to give it up. That is all but elm! I have a 66” elm bow with prolly 300,000 arrows threw it. As long as i dont shoot it in 95 degree humid weather it will be shooting 60yrs from now. I just throw it in the attic for a few days every sommer. Good as day i made many years ago.

Hedge~

[sleek]

Pardon me if I missed it, but where on the bow limb is that crack? I'd like a picture of the entire bow, with a pencil pointing at the crack. I'd also like a side view of the entire bow braced and unbraced with the same pencil indicator.  This will tell me where it is, what stress load it is under, and what damage has occurred during the crack to surrounding wood.

[bradsmith2010]

it would be nice to see what Sleek wants to see

[Stickhead]

I’ll post some more pics tomorrow.

[Stickhead]

Here's some more pics.  The splinter is shown by pencil marks.  It is the bottom limb, shown on the left in the pics.  It appears a bit like a hinge at some angles, but I think that's just because the pin knot causes a lump on the back just before the splinter.

I shaved it a little to smooth out the area, but I'm hesitant to go farther.

[sleek]

Heat treat that area until its stiff. Then apply super glue to fill the crack, sand it smooth, apply a wrap, and you should be good to go.

[Eric Krewson]

Hedge, the two guys on the podium were shooting osage selfbows backed with western diamondbacks, no bamboo. The bamboo backed bow is mine, I may have shot it the classic years ago but not The IBO. I haven't been to Twin Oaks since my wife died, its just not the same.

Here is another twin to their bows, I made it for Gil in 2011, it broke after 5 years of heavy use, he now has another one just like it but the new one doesn't shoot as good as the old one for him, different handle, it doesn't fit him quite as well as the first one.

[PatM]

Thats a backed selfbow. IBO dont allow backed bows in selfbow class. I remember that IBO in 2013. That was the end of Backed selfbows competing against a selfbow!

Just like you cant have a selfbow where the string touches belly of bow. I shot against 
 a lady with a selfbow that was a recurve really in the shootdown at IBO in 2019. Was like a warm up for me. Knew i couldnt go out cuz the bow was not legal anyway.

I have one that i have won more $ , wood and metal with that i cant remember. Got at least 200,000 shots thru it. As with all SBs that get shot that much it started to splinter a bit on upper limb. Been wrapped a long time now. Zero set, zero string follow, zero weight loss. 69” pryamid with flipped tips.

Hedge

 You can't shoot a recurved selfbow?   Why wouldn't there be a class for that?

[sleek]

That area is bending too much, and honestly,  it shouldn't bend hardly at all. Use a heat gun to heat treat that one spot only, maybe 3 inches on either side of the splinter.  Afterwards set the splinter with thin super glue,  wrap it with cordage of your choice, and see how it does. You want that spot to almost completely stiffen up.

[Stickhead]

Thanks for the advice, Sleek.  I’ll give it a try.